Persons armed with firearms generally like to carry additional ammunition, preferably in a magazine which can be readily loadable into the firearm. It has long been necessary for a shooter to carry additional ammunition magazines in holsters or specialized pouches mounted to a waist belt, tactical vest, chest rig or load bearing equipment worn by the shooter. The speed and convenience of accessing and drawing the magazine and drawing from the pouch is critical for any ammunition pouch design.
Military style ammunition pouches typically are constructed of cotton canvas or nylon fabrics and are designed to carry a particular size or type of ammunition magazine. These pouches, the magazines are inserted and carried vertical into the open mouth of the pouch body and covered with a flap that is secured by a snap, buckled or mating velcro patches. When the pouch flap is lifted, the top of the magazines ride above the pouch body allowing the shooter access to grasp the magazine and draw it from the pouch. Dual magazine pouches simply accept two magazines stacked flat against one another inside the pouch. To prevent the magazines from rattling around inside the pouch, the pouches are dimensioned to fit two magazines snugly within the pouch body.
One serious drawback to the standard military style dual magazine pouch is that it is often difficult to draw a single magazine from the pouch. Because the magazines are seated snuggly within the pouch body, drawing one magazine from the pouch often results in pulling the other magazine along with it. Since only the tops of the magazines extend above the pouch body, each magazine must be individually grasped using primarily the thumb and index finger in a relative fine gross motor skill. In the high stress environment of a firearms engagement when an emergency reload is necessary, a shooter needs to be able to quickly and easily retrieve a single magazine from the pouch and often lacks the fine motor skills needed to draw a single magazine from a tightly stacked and packed conventional dual magazine pouch. This problem is further compounded for shooters who wear gloves, such as military personnel.